Spir Remains Alive in D'Novo/ITA Qualification Draw

Doubles team of King and Spir also advances

Tulsa, Okla. - Juan Spir advanced to the fourth round of singles in the qualification draw Tuesday at the D'Novo/ITA All-American Tennis Championships, while the Georgia Tech sophomore and teammate Kevin King advanced to the third round of the doubles draw.

Spir, from Medellin Columbia, knocked off Nikola Bubnic of San Diego, 7-5, 7-5 Tuesday, and will advance to the main draw of the championship if he can defeat Maryland's Maros Horny Wednesday morning. Tech All-American Guillermo Gomez is already exempt into the main draw, which begins Thursday.

Meanwhile, Spir and King, a junior from Peachtree City, Ga., teamed up to win two doubles matches in the qualification draw Tuesday. The 60th-ranked doubles team in the nation defeated Sanam Singh and Steven Rooda of Virginia, 9-8 (5), then eliminated Marcel Arevalo/Rusty Turpin, Tulsa, 9-7.

They will advance to the main draw if they get past top-seeded Emanuel Brighiu and Chris Price of at 3:30 p.m. ET Wednesday.

"The guys overall are all competing better in this second tournament than in the first," said head coach Kenny Thorne. "Juan is beating some very solid players and is getting better mentally. He and Kevin competed well in doubles and have a good opportunity today to get into the top tier of doubles teams in the country."

Tech's other doubles teams in the qualification draw, 43rd-ranked Eliot Potvin and Ryan Smith and Gomez and Dean O'Brien, each won their first-round matches Tuesday but were eliminated in the second round.

In other singles action Tuesday, Potvin was eliminated by Tennessee's Matteo Fago, 6-3, 6-3, in the qualification draw. King and Dusan Miljevic each lost straight-set matches in the consolation draw.